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Network Biology, 2016, 6(1): 37-39
Short Communication
Network chemistry, network toxicology, network informatics, and
network behavioristics: A scientific outline
WenJun Zhang
School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China; International Academy of Ecology and
Environmental Sciences, Hong Kong
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Received 18 July 2015; Accepted 26 August 2015; Published online 1 March 2016
Abstract
In present study, I proposed some new sciences: network chemistry, network toxicology, network informatics,
and network behavioristics. The aims, scope and scientific foundation of these sciences are outlined.
Keywords network chemistry; network toxicology; network informatics; network behavioristics; scientific
foundation; aims and scope; new sciences.
Network Biology ISSN 2220­8879 URL: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/online­version.asp RSS: http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/rss.xml E­mail: [email protected] Editor­in­Chief: WenJun Zhang Publisher: International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 1 Introduction
Like network biology (Barabasi and Oltvai, 2004; Zhang, 2011, 2012; Find details on network biology at
http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/nb/nb.asp), and network pharmacology (Hopkins, 2007, 2008),
network science has been successfully used in some areas of sciences. Using network theory and methodology
to improve traditional sciences is proved to be an effective approach. In present study, I try to propose some
new sciences, i.e., network chemistry, network toxicology, network informatics, and network behavioristics,
and to outline the aims, scope and scientific foundation of these sciences, in order to lay the foundation for
further studies in the future.
2 Proposed New Sciences
2.1 Network chemistry
The aims of network chemistry are to analyze interactions between chemicals/molecules/compounds in the
complex chemical networks, to study the evolution of chemical networks, and to control these chemical
networks, etc. At the level of molecular biology and biochemistry, some of the research scopes of network
chemistry coincide with that of network biology (Goemann et al., 2011; Huang and Zhang, 2012; Li and
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Network Biology, 2016, 6(1): 37-39
Zhang, 2013; Rahman et al., 2013). Graph theory, network science, systematics, chemistry, and computational
science, etc., are scientific foundation of network chemistry.
2.2 Network toxicology
In a sense, network toxicology is a branch of network chemistry. However, network toxicology further
considers environmental factors also. Network toxicology aims to study the mechanisms of toxicant’s flow in
the networks like ecosystems, etc., and to control the flow according to findings on these mechanisms. Graph
theory, network science, systematics, ecology/environmental sciences, health science, and computational
science, etc., are scientific foundation of network toxicology.
2.3 Network informatics
Network informatics aims to exploit the mechanisms of information dissemination in the networks like social
networks, ecosystems, the human brain, etc., and to improve the efficacy of information dissemination based
on findings on these mechanisms. Graph theory, network science, systematics, information science, and
computational science, etc., are all scientific foundation of network informatics.
2.4 Network behavioristics
Network behavioristics is closely related to sleforganizology and agent-based modeling (Zhang, 2012, 2013,
2014a, 2014b, 2016; Zhang and Liu, 2015). It aims to exploit the co-evolution mechanisms of behavioral rules
of nodes in the networks as human/animal communities, ecosystems, etc. Graph theory, network science,
systematics, agent-based modeling, selforganizology, and computational science, etc., are scientific foundation
of network behavioristics.
3 Summary
The present study just proposed the basic concepts and outlined the new sciences. The aims, scope, and
methodology, etc., of these sciences are expected to be further revised, improved and developed in the future.
Acknowledgment
We are thankful to the support of High-Quality Textbook Network Biology Project for Engineering of
Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform of Undergraduate Universities of Guangdong Province
(2015.6-2018.6), from Department of Education of Guangdong Province, and Discovery and Crucial Node
Analysis of Important Biological and Social Networks (2015.6-2020.6), from Yangling Institute of Modern
Agricultural Standardization.
References
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Hopkins AL. 2008. Network pharmacology: the next paradigm in durg discovery. Nature Chemical Biololgy,
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Huang JQ, Zhang WJ. 2012. Analysis on degree distribution of tumor signaling networks. Network Biology,
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Network Biology, 2016, 6(1): 37-39
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